Invoice Gurley (@bgurley) is a common accomplice at Benchmark, a number one enterprise capital agency in Silicon Valley. Over his enterprise profession, he has invested in and served on the boards of such corporations as Nextdoor, OpenTable, Sew Repair, Uber, and Zillow. He earned his Bachelor of Science diploma in pc science from the College of Florida after which his MBA from the College of Texas at Austin. For greater than 20 years, Invoice has written about know-how and different topics on his common weblog Above the Crowd and on his social media accounts.
I interviewed Invoice for the second time just lately, and we obtained into his new e book Runnin’ Down a Dream: How one can Thrive in a Profession You Truly Love, which can come out subsequent month and is now out there for preorder.
To provide you a style, I requested Invoice if we’d reprint a chapter on the weblog, and he and his writer kindly agreed.
Enter Invoice . . .
PRINCIPLE V
GO WHERE THE ACTION IS
If you wish to begin a tech firm, go to Silicon Valley. If you wish to be in films, go to L.A. Geography nonetheless issues.
—Brian Chesky, cofounder and CEO of Airbnb
By the point Tony Fadell graduated from the College of Michigan, he already had extra entrepreneurial expertise in his area than just about all of his friends. As a teen within the mid-Eighties, he created a semiconductor firm that bought components to Apple. He had one other firm that bought mail-order software program for the Apple II, and he additionally began a 3rd firm, with one in every of his professors, that bought instructional software program for Mac computer systems. He skipped his first week of faculty courses to man a sales space on the Applefest in San Francisco.
Tony had spent years studying the whole lot he may in regards to the pc trade, largely in Byte Journal and MacWorld. In story after story, he examine corporations based mostly within the Valley. Learning the adverts within the magazines, he famous that a lot of the firm addresses had been additionally in Northern California.
He flew out to Silicon Valley just a few instances a yr for conferences, all on his personal dime, and he completely cherished it. On one journey, he rented a automotive and drove to the unique Fry’s Electronics in Sunnyvale—“a superstore, like Costco, for the whole lot beneath the solar on the planet of electronics.” For a child who grew up obsessive about computer systems and constructing know-how—in elementary faculty he rigged his clock radio to place a headphone jack in it so he may hearken to music all night time with out his dad and mom understanding—this journey felt extra like a pilgrimage.
“I used to be like ‘Ho-ly shit!’” he advised me. A long time later, you possibly can nonetheless hear that authentic awe in his voice.
Tony knew that when he graduated, he wanted to maneuver to Silicon Valley, the epicenter of the trade he cherished. At first he thought he wished an internship at Apple, which was run by John Sculley on the time. The corporate flew Tony to Cupertino and put him up in a pleasant lodge with a fruit basket ready within the room. However after they supplied him the internship, Tony declined.
To his shock, they supplied him a full-time job, working at a three way partnership Apple was doing with IBM. However once more, stunningly, Tony turned them down. He had his eye on a distinct job. “I mentioned, ‘No, I don’t need something to do with that,’” he advised me. “I wished Normal Magic.”
On the time, Tony didn’t even know what Normal Magic was doing, however just a few years earlier he examine Silicon Valley pc engineer legends Invoice Atkinson and Andy Hertzfeld in a Rolling Stone story profiling the Mac crew. As Tony was flying to the West Coast, doing these interviews, he learn behind one in every of his tech magazines that a few of these huge names had begun a secretive spinoff from Apple. “I’m like, ‘No matter it’s,’” Tony advised me, “‘that’s the place I wish to be.’”
Regardless of his outstanding résumé and community of contacts, Tony was advised that there weren’t any openings at Normal Magic—however that simply made him need it extra. So on one in every of his journeys to California, Tony determined to go to the Normal Magic constructing, in downtown Mountain View, and current himself unannounced. He discovered the handle within the Yellow Pages and drove over at 8:30 a.m. He wore a jacket and tie and an enormous, naive midwestern smile. However when he obtained to the constructing, it was largely empty. Safety canine roamed the halls, able to assault any intruder. When he discovered the correct ground, he walked up together with his résumé in his hand. The workplace door was open. Inside, he discovered—nothing. “It was simply dice wall after dice wall, a desolate dice space,” he says.
As he walked via the rows of cubes, he thought he was fully alone. However then he noticed two males in a dice and so they regarded like they’d been up all night time. Undaunted, Tony made certain that this was certainly the Normal Magic workplace—they mentioned it was—and supplied up his résumé. With out even it, the 2 males advised him the corporate wasn’t hiring. So Tony left and went again dwelling to Michigan.
At this level, leaving the Valley gave him one thing akin to withdrawal signs. Michigan appeared bleak. “I went again to Ann Arbor and it was actually a frozen tundra,” he advised me. “I stored asking myself what I used to be doing there.”
It’s totally different now, however on the time Michigan didn’t have a group of know-how fans like these within the Valley. There have been no startups. It felt like individuals there barely spoke the identical language. So he was much more satisfied that he wanted to be in California— and extra particularly, he wanted to be at Normal Magic.
First, he racked his mind to think about anybody he knew at Apple, anybody who may be capable of open a door there for him. He made some calls, pleading his case, and it took just a few months, however finally he obtained a name again from a girl at Normal Magic named Dee Gardetti. Tony didn’t comprehend it on the time, however Dee was the fourth worker on the firm and she or he was the pinnacle of HR. She advised him she was impressed together with his résumé and she or he would see what she may do. She advised him to be affected person.
However Tony just isn’t a very affected person particular person. He began mailing letters to the corporate. He estimates that he despatched between fifteen and twenty old-school letters, pleading for a job. As time glided by, he graduated from Michigan and moved again in together with his dad and mom. He bought his instructional software program firm. He turned down quite a few different jobs—a lot to the chagrin of his dad and mom. He was relentless, however he was additionally charming. When he referred to as Dee, he was capable of make her giggle and win her help. Then, in November 1991, almost seven months after that authentic unannounced go to, Tony was invited again for an interview.
He flew again out to the Valley, placed on his jacket and tie, and confirmed as much as Normal Magic’s new workplace in Mountain View. “There have been no canine this time,” he jokes.
However now, in spite of everything this time and this relentless pursuit, Tony started to really feel one thing all of us have felt at one level or one other: imposter syndrome. “I’m like, ‘What am I doing right here?’ I’m completely melting. I’m seeing these those that I’ve idolized, my heroes, they’re interviewing me. I’m just a bit child.”
He was advised to take off his tie and his jacket. He was advised to take a seat on the ground like everybody else, round an arcade machine in the midst of the workplace. As he obtained extra comfy, Tony confirmed the Normal Magic crew his senior challenge: a transportable touchscreen pc— one thing most individuals had by no means heard of in 1991.
Properly, it turned out that Normal Magic, this top-secret firm of superstars, had been engaged on a transportable gadget with a touchscreen, the earliest iterations of what would change into the smartphone. A few of their companions and buyers included Sony, Motorola, and AT&T.
Tony thought the interviews went nicely, however he left with out a job supply. He went again to Michigan, the place the nippiness of autumn was morphing into the bitter chilly of winter. Greater than two weeks later, he lastly obtained the decision from Dee.
“I wish to let you already know you’re going to be a diagnostic engineer on the {hardware} crew at Normal Magic,” she advised him. “And you can begin immediately.”
Tony nonetheless remembers operating round and screaming when he obtained the decision. His wage was $28,000, beneath the price of dwelling within the Valley on the time, however he didn’t care. He packed up his automotive, mentioned goodbye to his dad and mom, left his mom crying within the driveway, and headed to California.
Tony is an efficient buddy of mine, and we’ll talk about a few of his unimaginable accomplishments later, however I wish to spotlight this a part of his story for a cause. He made the audacious resolution to maneuver, not simply to the geographic heart of the trade he wished to work in, however to the one firm the place so a lot of his idols had come collectively.
It’s a tough resolution and sometimes a tough pursuit, however if in case you have the possibility, put your self within the heart of the motion.
GO WHERE THE ACTION IS
As your dream job journey evolves, you could finally confront a choice with monumental penalties: Ought to I bodily relocate so as to maximize my likelihood of general success?
In fact, many people transfer away for the primary time to attend faculty. And that’s not the top of the world. We meet new individuals, we meet new buddies, we’re uncovered to new cultures and experiences. We study and develop. Making that call a second time can and may have a profound impression in your probabilities of dream job success. It might appear extremely intimidating, however it could even be the perfect resolution you make in your complete life.
Your journey is probably not as dramatic as Bob Dylan hitchhiking from Minnesota to Greenwich Village. I relocated twice in my profession— first to New York after which to Silicon Valley—partly as a result of I noticed how my dad benefited from shifting from Virginia to Houston to work at NASA.
The reality is, totally different industries are greater and extra outstanding somewhere else—for all kinds of causes. The tech trade and a disproportionate variety of start-ups are within the San Francisco Bay Space. For finance and banking, it’s New York Metropolis. New York can also be the middle of the e book publishing world and America’s theater scene. However for tv and movie, the epicenter is Los Angeles. Authorities and coverage? Washington, D.C. Biotech and pharma? That’s Boston. Oil and vitality? Houston. The automotive trade continues to be largely based mostly in De- troit. If you wish to make it as a singer-songwriter, you’ll in all probability should spend a while in Nashville, no matter your style.
Just a few industries have a number of hubs, which suggests you’ll have extra decisions. The style trade, for instance, is huge in Milan, Paris, New York, and L.A. If you wish to make it in esports, you possibly can in all probability decide between Tokyo, Seoul, or Los Angeles—although you’ll have a ton of different elements to think about as you resolve.
Being in these locations places you within the circulate of the trade. You might be surrounded by individuals who converse the language. You might be nearer to decision-makers, mentors, collaborators. You’ll be able to study sooner, transfer sooner, be seen extra shortly. And typically, most significantly, you might be merely reminded that that is actual—that there are people who find themselves doing the factor you wish to do, each single day.
Whatever the geography, there are not less than ten methods relocating can assist your profession.
1. Extra jobs—There are simply extra alternatives the place the trade is dense.
2. Extra networking—You’re tremendously rising the probabilities you’ll stumble upon individuals in your area.
3. Extra mentors and extra friends—The perfect within the enterprise are sometimes only a espresso store away.
4. Extra occasions—Meetups, panels, workshops—they’re occurring way more typically within the trade’s epicenter.
5. Publicity to tendencies—You’re first to see what’s subsequent.
6. Résumé credibility—“She’s based mostly in L.A.” or “He labored in New York” carries weight.
7. Quicker development—Your probabilities of shifting up go up if you’re the place issues are occurring.
8. Greater pay—It’s extra aggressive and sometimes dearer, however these locations additionally include larger compensation.
9. Serendipity—The breakthrough assembly, the sudden connection—it’s extra prone to occur if you’re immersed. You create your personal luck.
10. Enjoyable and vitality—You’re surrounded by individuals who care about the identical issues. That issues. Should you really love your chosen area, that may excite you.
I noticed this in Silicon Valley. I watched individuals have lunch with billionaires, go to talks by start-up founders who had simply IPO’d, meet cofounders over espresso. Folks within the Valley take time to reply to genuine requests for studying and recommendation. I felt it on the way in which up, and I’ve tried to reciprocate and proceed the custom. It’s a vibe you don’t essentially see elsewhere. I’ve heard loads of comparable tales about musicians in Nashville. They transfer there with no ensures. However they know one factor: The perfect individuals are right here. I wish to be round that.
That’s the concept. You wish to roll round in it. If the concept of being immersed in your trade doesn’t enchantment to you, you may want to return to the primary precept and rethink whether or not that is really your ardour. It is best to wish to be so steeped in your craft that giant components of it change into second nature.
Immersion isn’t passive—it’s transformative. If you’re absolutely submerged within the tradition of your area’s epicenter, studying accelerates. Alternatives multiply. Your community organically expands. Immersion creates a strong osmosis impact, exponentially accelerating your development and visibility.
All of this will appear intimidating, I do know. Perhaps it sounds too aggressive. Being nervous a couple of step like that is completely comprehensible. My recommendation: Attempt your finest to take away these ideas out of your thoughts.
VIRTUAL AND EMERGING EPICENTERS
So what in the event you simply actually can’t relocate? We reside in an period the place bodily relocation just isn’t the one possibility. Digital epicenters also can propel your profession. You possibly can have interaction deeply with Reddit teams and Twitter/X communities. You possibly can devour and even take part in Twitch streams, podcasts, LinkedIn teams, digital programs on nearly any topic.
You possibly can set up your self with a web based presence via content material curation, professional interviews, and constant digital engagement. If in case you have one thing fascinating and considerate to say a couple of topic regularly, you’ll construct an viewers finally.
To be clear: These are all issues try to be contemplating whether or not you will have already relocated or not. That is a part of the educational course of, a part of constructing a peer community, and a part of looking for out mentors. Bodily proximity will possible offer you an additional benefit, however in right this moment’s world try to be using each device out there.
There are additionally trade epicenters that appear to bubble up, typically in shocking locales. Within the Nineteen Seventies, northern Florida grew to become a hub of Southern Rock, producing a shocking lineup of bands that included Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers Band, and 38 Particular—all from Jacksonville. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers shaped across the similar time down the street in Gainesville.
Just a few years in the past, comic Ron White inspired Joe Rogan to relocate to Austin. For greater than 20 years, Rogan lived in Los Angeles, one of many two or three huge hubs for top-tier stand-up comedy, together with New York and Boston. Rogan was a staple at The Comedy Retailer on the Sundown Strip. For years, he went a number of nights every week. He honed his act with two or three quick units in an evening and spent the remainder of his time hanging out together with his fellow comedians within the venue’s legendary inexperienced room.
In March 2023, Rogan opened his personal membership, Comedy Mothership, on Sixth Avenue in downtown Austin. He named the bar Mitzi’s, after Mitzi Shore, the girl who owned The Comedy Retailer till her dying in 2018. Rogan introduced Adam Eget, one in every of The Comedy Retailer’s bookers, to Austin to assist launch the enterprise. Across the similar time, different outstanding nationwide comedians relocated from each Los Angeles and New York. Inside just a few years, the Austin comedy scene included Tom Segura and his spouse Christina P, Tony Hinchcliffe, and Shane Gillis. They’re all regulars on the Mothership, and now almost each huge comedian has to cease in Austin just a few instances a yr.
However one thing else occurred, too. Different smaller comedy golf equipment began popping up throughout city. There have been extra open mics and extra paying gigs. As Tony Hinchcliffe’s podcast, Kill Tony, obtained extra common, an increasing number of aspiring comics migrated to Austin as an alternative of New York or L.A. Austin has formally change into a comedy hub. Although they tour loads, comedians nonetheless want a high quality base to sculpt and workshop their materials.
In fact, some professions are itinerant by nature. Some industries don’t have conventional hubs. Take into consideration sports activities. If you wish to be a school or skilled coach, you’ll in all probability must relocate a number of instances. That’s true whether or not you might be an assistant or a head coach. It’s definitely true for athletic administrators. Likelihood is your subsequent job won’t be in the identical place as your final one. That is true of journalists, too. As you come up within the trade, you’ll possible have to maneuver just a few instances.
However even these itinerant occupations have trade occasions, causes to return collectively in the identical place. There are annual conferences, key networking occasions that perform as short-term epicenters. In these industries, it’s much more vital to hunt out and join with mentors and consultants and to remain in contact with friends.
RELOCATING IS HARD
I do know this isn’t straightforward. Transferring is dear and worrying. Most of us usually are not nomadic by nature. We crave stability. Relocating is likely one of the single most disruptive issues you are able to do in life. Perhaps your dad and mom reside close by, and you’re the one they lean on. Perhaps your youngsters love their faculty and your weekends are full of soccer video games and birthday events. Perhaps you will have constructed a close-knit group over years, or a long time, and the concept of leaving that looks like tearing one thing sacred.
Transferring additionally means dealing with extra intense competitors. You may know extra a couple of topic than anybody else in your graduating class, however as soon as you progress to an trade hub, you might be out of the blue the bottom particular person on the totem pole. However careers usually are not zero-sum video games. Competitors is a tide that raises all boats. Positive, for some time everybody you encounter will know greater than you, however that simply means you’ll have the chance to study infinitely sooner than you’ll in the event you stayed at dwelling.
You may additionally want a “help job” whilst you grind. Loads of struggling actors discovered different gigs to pay the hire—typically for years—earlier than touchdown a breakthrough position. A few of the finest musicians in America spent substantial parts of their lives busking on sidewalks or enjoying free of charge in dirty bars. That perseverance can repay. Generally the primary job won’t be the large profession winner. It might simply be a vital stepping-stone.
That’s what occurred with Tony Fadell.
After he lastly obtained that job at Normal Magic, he labored there for 3 and a half years. However the firm was not a hit story. Normal Magic’s failure has change into some of the vital legends within the historical past of Silicon Valley. (It’s additionally the topic of an excellent documentary that I might extremely encourage everybody to observe.) Nonetheless, becoming a member of Normal Magic put Tony squarely within the epicenter of the Valley. And the connections he made there have been a part of an incredible basis that may assist launch him to better and better heights.
After leaving Normal Magic, Tony continued his pursuit and keenness for designing breakthrough transportable computing gadgets. His subsequent cease was constructing the Philips Cell Computing group, the place he assumed the position of CTO on the age of twenty-five. After 4 years there and a short dance with Actual Networks, he began his personal firm in 1999 referred to as Fuse, which aimed to be the “Dell of Client Electronics.” That timing was not ideally suited, because the dot-com crash made it troublesome for Fuse to boost its second spherical of financing. Tony stored grinding.
After ten years, Apple employed Tony via an eight-week consulting contract to develop a brand new MP3 music participant. Tony’s 9 years in Silicon Valley, and the educational he had carried out via almost a decade of engaged on cell computing merchandise, had been lastly about to repay. After a profitable consulting gig, Apple employed Tony internally. Inside a yr, Apple would launch their first MP3 participant, the iPod, which might finally promote over 450 million models. After that, Tony assumed the position of head of engineering for the iPhone. Everyone knows how that turned out. Apple has bought 2.3 billion iPhones, making it essentially the most profitable cell computing gadget of all time.
Tony wasn’t carried out. He later left Apple to construct one more mass shopper product by way of Nest Labs. Nest launched a breakthrough product—the Nest Studying Thermostat—which might revolutionize the house automation trade. Should you don’t have one, you’ve in all probability stayed in an Airbnb with a Nest thermostat.
Google finally acquired Nest for $3.2 billion. Since leaving Google, Tony has change into a prolific angel investor and has authored a bestselling e book that I might suggest to everybody devoted to discovering their very own distinctive profession pathway—Construct: An Unorthodox Information to Making Issues Price Making.
Consider your dream as a seed. The epicenter of your trade is the fertile soil that permits that seed to flourish. Embrace the problem—not as an finish in itself, however as the required step towards significant development. If the concept of shifting ignites one thing inside you, belief that intuition. You have already got your reply. Go the place the motion is.
From Runnin’ Down a Dream: How one can Thrive in a Profession You Truly Love by Invoice Gurley, out there for preorder, to be revealed on 2/24/2026 by Crown Foreign money, an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random Home, LLC. Copyright © 2026 by Invoice Gurley. Reprinted with permission.
